Intel made an appearance at CES this year and previewed its next substantial chip release, the 12th generation Alder Lake. The company didn’t go into too much detail about the chips to come, but it gave us a taste of what to expect.
Like its predecessor, 12th-generation Alderr Lake chips will use something similar to ARM’s BIG.little technology, a hybrid of high-performance, high-efficiency cores. Intel said that these are laptop and desktop CPUs and that consumers should expect to get their hands on them in the second half of this year (via Ars Technica)
Arguably the most notable aspect of this announcement is its timing in relation to Apple’s new M1 CPUs announced last year. This is probably not a coincidence, but instead Intel is trying to compete directly with the M1, especially considering how similar the two are in design.
Alderr Lake will use an improved version of the 10 nm SuperFin process, which will compete with Apple’s ARM instruction set used on the M1. This, combined with the BIG.little architecture, reaffirms Intel’s desire to compete with Apple’s chip.
Intel’s announcement also indicates companies’ intention to start scaling their hybrid chips within their current line. Whether this supposed change in strategy will work for Intel or not will be revealed in time. It is also important to note that we do not expect Apple to use these new Alderr Lake chips in any of its products.
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